Joy of sound
Hearing and hobbies.
True or false? Hobbies are good for your health.
It’s true! In fact, one study found people who participated in enjoyable leisure activities had lower blood pressure and cortisol (stress hormone) levels and reported greater life satisfaction.1
Continue reading.
Larry is wearing a TruHearing® Advanced hearing aid.
Hearing and hobbies.
True or false? Hobbies are good for your health.
It’s true! In fact, one study found people who participated in enjoyable leisure activities had lower blood pressure and cortisol (stress hormone) levels and reported greater life satisfaction.1
Continue reading.
Larry is wearing a TruHearing® Advanced hearing aid.
A hobby is meant to be an immersive experience and your senses help ensure you can fully engage. For example, if you’re taking a cooking class, being able to see and smell delicious food makes it more fun.
Your hearing impacts every aspect of your life, including leisure time. Hobbies such as learning a new language or musical instrument are likely more challenging with hearing loss. This can lead to avoiding certain activities if there’s difficulty hearing the instructions or conversation, like taking a class or going to group events. Wearing your hearing aids can make a big difference in the enjoyment of your hobbies.
Hobbies are also beneficial for your mental health. Taking up a hobby is associated with decreased depressive symptoms and 30% lower odds of experiencing depression.2 Additionally, research has found people with moderate or worse hearing loss have two times greater odds of experiencing depression and anxiety. However, study participants who wore hearing aids reported lower rates of anxiety and depression.3
“I can hear very well on my phone now. What I really love is that I listen to audiobooks, and I don’t have to have anything except my hearing aids to listen and hear very well.”
– TruHearing customer
A hobby can be any fun or relaxing activity done in your spare time. It can be done alone or with others, take place indoors or outdoors, and cost as little or as much as your budget allows. If you’re interested in picking up a new hobby and need a little inspiration, here are a few categories of hobbies to consider: athletic, creative, intellectual.
Athletic hobbies get you up and moving. Examples include dancing, tennis, water aerobics, golfing, gardening, and yoga. Creative hobbies help bring out your artistic side and include learning to play a musical instrument, taking an art class, acting, and singing. Intellectual hobbies can help sharpen your mind and include learning a new language, joining a book club, creative writing, and traveling or learning about other cultures.
After treating your hearing loss, will you discover the joy of a hobby?
Struggling to hear?
In less than 5 minutes, you can find out if you might have hearing loss.
Hollywood sound effect secrets
A favorite hobby for many is watching movies. When it comes to sound effects, most of what you see on screen isn’t what you’re hearing. From footsteps crunching in the snow to creepy doors creaking open, most sounds are recorded in post-production, after the film has been shot. This process is called foley, named after its inventor, Jack Foley. Filmmakers prefer foley because it adds detail and richness. But how do they do it?
Bird wing flaps: floppy gloves
Footsteps in snow: cornstarch squeezed in a leather pouch
Punches: hitting raw meat, a phone book, baseball mitt
Car skids: dragging a balloon across glass
Laser blast: trampoline spring, striking long, high-tension wires
Robot movement: DVD player drawer, R/C car parts
Secret stone door: toilet tank lid, paving stones
Sword fight: metal spatula, cooking tray, metal tongs
Sources:
1 Association of Enjoyable Leisure Activities With Psychological and Physical Well-Being. Psychosom Med.
2 Fixed-Effects Analyses of Time-Varying Associations between Hobbies and Depression in a Longitudinal Cohort Study: Support for Social Prescribing? Psychother Psychosom.
3 Association of Hearing Loss With Psychological Distress and Utilization of Mnetal Health Services Among Adults in the United States. JAMA Netw Open.
